Mateel Press Release

The Mateel Community Center Board of Directors regrets to announce that extensive mediation with People Productions has failed to produce a favorable result for both parties. The Board remains completely committed to the continuation of Reggae on the River, and is moving forward to ensure the successful production of the festival in 2007. Unfortunately part of that process is ending the existing contract with PP as Carol Bruno has publicly announced that she will not work under that contract with this Board and E.D. In order to move forward the MCC has taken the necessary step of ending the contract with People Productions.

The MCC board feels that a short term licensing of the event is the best course of action. This will protect our intellectual property that is Reggae on the River and give us time to gather community input on the direction of the show. The MCC will announce the licensee in January of the new year. We invite all Reggae volunteers and coordinators who want to continue working for the Mateel to join us for ROTR 2007. They will have every opportunity to retain their positions at the festival. We will work diligently with local non-profit groups to make certain that their places at ROTR are protected.

We will also be working closely with Tom Dimmick, the owner of the ROTR site, to ensure that the festival is an ongoing success. We understand that Reggae on the River is dependent on the support of the local community, and we are counting on everyone to help us make the 2007 festival successful.

The Mateel will be working hard to make Reggae on the River as great as ever this year while we spend the year developing a long-range plan. We have heard the many concerns expressed by community members, and will be designing and implementing a year of planning to develop a long term viable plan for sustaining the Mateel Community Center and Reggae On The River far into the future. The planning will encompass an updated study of current community needs, membership and community meetings for input regarding the direction of the Mateel and ROTR, and a special meeting on the needs of the many local community nonprofit groups which rely on Reggae on the River. We look forward to a year of hard work on building a direction which focuses on the positive and creative well-being of our community.

Finally, the Board wants to express its gratitude to Carol Bruno, owner of People Productions. Under her direction and guidance the festival and the entire community has benefited immeasurably. We gratefully acknowledge the love, hard work, and years of dedication Carol and John Bruno have given to making Reggae On The River a world class event for all of our enjoyment and benefit.

We look forward to another excellent year of Reggae On The River in 2007.

37 comments

Where did this letter come from? Is this an official letter to the community and the coordinators? When will the Mateel contact each individual coordinator or are we to contact the Mateel? Can you shed some light on this Eric.

There will be a meeting called in January at the Mateel for all coordinators and volunteers. The meeting date will be posted in the local papers and on the website as soon as possible. This will be an opportunity for the coordinators to provide the new production company and the Mateel with their list of needs, concerns, vision ideas, and current job descriptions, etc.

I don’t think that humor is what is needed right now. There are alot of people really upset and concerned. The MCC needs to communicate directly with the coordinators. I do not think it appropriate for them it post it in the paper. Your comment “A little mouse in the corner told me so” is not funny. If you don’t have any factual information please refrain from posting anything at all.

This is a press release that was e-mailed at 2:20 this Friday afternoon, Dec. 29. People Productions received written notice of termination of the contract at the close of the business day on Thursday.

Estelle did a report on KMUD News this evening; if you missed it, you can catch it at 8 a.m.

I don’t have any more information than this statement and some rumors about the negotiation process and what got us to this point.

I do have to say that Bob Stern’s comments on the news tonight were a bit confusing. I’d heard that offers had been made by alternative promoters, but tonight he gave the impression that they hadn’t yet talked to anybody but assured everybody in the abstract that they would find someone. This gives one the impression that their move was impulsive and made without a backup plan, which I tend to doubt. I certainly hope Bob or someone else on the Board clears up this ambiguity over the next few days. I mean I don’t expect that they’d have a contract all wrapped up, but I’d have expected him to reassure everybody that discussions with alternative promoters were already underway. A lot of work has to be done in a hurry.

I assume that all of the coordinators will be contacted and a meeting held ASAP. That’s how I’d do it.

I tried to call the Mateel office today, but it was closed as we all know. But now that the negotiations are over and the secrecy agreement moot, I would expect transparency from here on out.

Oh, and I’ve replaced the statement I received earlier, which was apparently a draft. I didn’t look closely to compare them, so I don’t know what the differences are but they don’t appear to be substantial.

Oh, yeah. What would all the nonprofits, forprofits, and pot growers do without our precious ROTR? Must gather everyone together ASAP – save those who are off wintering in Belize,Costa and Cabo. If, per chance, it doesn’t come off as expected can the SoHum community apply for a FEMA disaater grant? Somebody ought to get crackin’ on that.

The Mateel needs to meet with the coordinators long before they meet with volunteers. They need to separate the two. The coordinators are paid positions and are key players in making the show flow. The volunteers work under the coordinators for a free pass to show. Keep the two separate and communicate immediately with the coordinators. Many of them depend on the salary they make from doing their jobs. This is just as important to them as it is to the non-profits.

Please whoever the person is making jokes STOP. This is affecting lots of peoples lives. Maybe not yours but lots of others. It’s a serious issue.

After listening to the newscast I am left with the feeling that the MCC has no real plans for the festival… just a lot of hope.From what I heard I think that Bob Stern said that they have no contract in place for a producer of the show. And that the “prospective producer would need to learn about our SoHum ways, etc.I know that the personal contacts that are/were in place to facilitate growth and changes are now really messed up.The coordinators should have been contacted before any public statement was made.Is this the way the MCC plans to ramrod the festival now? The folks that have dedicated decades of their lives to making the show go should be shown more respect. We have earned the right to not get blind sided by the MCC. It is not just about Carol. It is about us. It is not only the non profits that benefit from ROTR. Some folks really need the $ they earn as employees of the festival. Not all of the community have 215’s to augment their income.

I hope that the MCC has better plans in place than were reported on the news. The current ED has a bad track record and this could be the “one moremistake” that hurts the community in a way that may not be fixable.Not every town has a world class music festival to support it’s non profits.I hope that we still have one here.This could turn out to be a colossal error.And BTW who wants to produce a show for only one year? Is the plan then to take it inhouse and handle the show from the MCC office?This agenda seems really wrong to me.The timing of the letter released on this blog is horrible. It was a grandstand play. Carol finding out about her contract termination from a newscaster’s questioning is classless. From what I understood, she was still involved in contract negotiations. Is this the way the ED is going to run the new ROTR?We are people here. Respect us. The MCC is supposed to work for us. Are they?Or are they trying to fulfill an agenda by removing PP from the equation?And have they crippled the golden goose?

Before you go all hysterical over this, Carol knew that they were going to terminate her contract before the “timing of this letter”.I also believe that the MCC was under pressure to release something to the public before the end of the year, which is – Sunday!By only notifying coordinators first, as you suggest, well, that wouldn’t have been kept a secret very long now would it? You also assume that all those coordinators are around here now to be contacted. Really? You don’t seem to know the wintering schedule of SoHummers very well.If it’s a job you need, they are always hiring at the Ray’s. They’re great places to meet people and one of them even plays music throughout the day, though it probably isn’t Reggae.

There are people who live in this community who are NOT WEED GROWERS. People who work for a living. I’m sure you have no concept of what it is like to work a real job. To develop a real business. To acquire clients that help build your business and reputation amongst your working peers. To be a contributing member of society as a whole. People who have gone to school and earned REAL skills. No, it’s obvious this is beyond your realm to comprehend.

Rumor has it that the Mateel has at least one offer from an experienced production company. I doubt the i’s have been dotted on a new contract – terminating PP’s contract is a necessary first step. There may be other viable options that the Mateel is considering as well.

I’d guess the reason the Mateel was only willing to sign a contract for one year was the high handed way that the interests of the Mateel have been subverted — both financially and operationally — by PP. Fewer threats, less manipulation, and a willingness to be financially accountable could have gone a long way towards allowing the Mateel to sign a longer term contract with PP. As for a new producer, some trial period seems appropriate.

Word on the street is that the ROTR 2005 audit report shows a truly awesome lack of fiscal accountability – over a million dollars in income that isn’t accounted for including 300k in cash transactions at the event. No board member could who takes their fiduciary responsibilities seriously could sign a long term contract with a producer whose performance for the Mateel has been so unaccountably poor. Add to that the attacks, the threats, the interference by PP and third parties in the Mateel’s business interests and it’s easy to understand why the Mateel board feels it needs to take the risk of hiring a different producer.

I would like to take a moment to clear up a couple of items. I am limited in what I can address but I can assure people that the Mateel is currently in formal negotiations for a new production company. Yes, we have distinct plans and directions. It will take a few days for these to be implemented and take shape as we did our very best to honor our previous commitments first, as was our duty. We will personally contact the coordinators per the list we have beginning Tuesday. I have read the advice posted on the distinction between the coordinators and volunteers. We will make sure the coordinators are respected, honored, and brought into their own meeting.Thank you Eric for promoting the dialogue on the topic. We are all working very hard right now. The board has stepped up and filled in some of the gaps for the staff but there are still, at the moment, too few people to fill in all the necessary customary roles to promote a unified front. We shall fix this as soon as possible.

I’m not sure what THAT was all about, or even if it had anything to do with ROTR.If you were implying that ROTR provides full time employment for other than PP staff, that was debunked by PP last January at a meeting with the Piercy folk. Someone implied then that they,PP, were making a lot of $$ off of ROTR and an angry full time PP staffer offered to show her W4 form, which only indicated something around $11K, if I’m not mistaken. How the hell can anyone exist on that, and raise a family too? Something here does not sense, so if the truth of the matter is that there are those attached to ROTR directly who are actually making a real livelihood off of it, then that is big news to a lot of us dumb hicks who have been “shown” otherwise.

A Direct Message to Carol Bruno & People Productions: Please give your blessings and support to all coordinators, personal contacts, and volunteers who wish to continue to be a contributing force behind Reggae on the River 2007. Change is not good for everyone, especially when it is not asked for. The change you asked for was good for you but lets never forget ROTR is bigger then just one person. Because you wanted change you have affected countless others who did not and were not ready for that change. ROTR always has been and always will be more then just you. There are many coordinators who really love the show, love the role they play as well as need the monies they make as part of their yearly income. They want to continue to be a part of ROTR’s future. They are not ready to give up on the dream. ROTR has always been a community event. I want to be a part of the future not just the past. Thank you Carol for all that you have done for the community. Please pass the reigns over with dignity and grace not animosity and hate. There has been far too much of that.

Interesting. The ROTR message board no longer functions. It is currently unavailable. There was a lively discussion on a thread similar to this one I started there, and when a few people expressed opinions, including the posting of a link to this site and a copy of the open letter to Carol Bruno; the board was zapped.I think that letter from anon comes from the heart and I applaud the content.And I did not post it on the rotr message board although I think it was the reason the board is now unavailable. Censorship?

I just talked to Humboldt Netlink who hosts the ROTR website. The ROTR website may have been hacked. They are not sure if the board is actually hosted on the Humboldt Netlink servers or if the link actually points to another location. Their system administrator is taking steps to get the board back online. The rest of the site has been secured. In the meantime if someone wants to put up a secure bulletin board to continue the discussion of these issues they will provide a link to it on their site.

I’ve just become aware of the Reggae Message board being shut down. While the ROTR website is property of the Mateel Community Center, the message board is hosted on another website http://www.sensimedia.net/ (I think) – We are assuming that People Productions has ordered them to shut down the message board but have had no confirmation of this.We are working on either restoring the old message board or putting up a new one so public comment and discussion can continue.

Eric Hoffer said: “In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. I’m Atraid a lot of us find ourselves in the world that no longer exists. It’s going to take someone willing to take the time to reach-out and teach us a new way. We have been used to working under the capable leadership of Carol and PP. Who ever takes over will have the great advantage of stepping onto grounds already created by PP, and that will make the task a lot easier. The community needs this event. In the words James Brown. “We need to learn to get along”

I have seen Heather Lake pour much poison over he waters of RotR, diss many volunteers, coordinators and then there are the “Reports” of her extra curricular wristband sales. Carole, you let your own family shaft you.

When you got the first letter the message was “Give us $250k” they even gave you a face saving out… pay for the removed and replaced improvements. You lawyered up and threatened to walk. I heard one old schooler say “God, what good luck, just accept the resignation!”

Well now they have and you only have yourself your lawyer and family to blame!

As a Northern Humboldt longtime RotR fan (been to every one since ’86), I’ve been following all this news with great interest.

It occurs to me that the Mateel terminating the PP contract is a very interesting step. Either they called Carol’s bluff, or she got what she wanted. It doesn’t really matter either way I suppose, but it does leave one with the question: what exactly *did* Carol want?

Thanx for clarifying that Taunya! I felt Bob was a little too vague on that point last night, and it left the wrong impression. Right now the first priority (besides securing a contract) is to think in terms of what is going to alleviate anxiety over the next few weeks.

What a mess….Had any of us failed to fulfill our contractual responsibilities as an employee- we’d have been canned, long ago!! Need I remind u? It is for two years running that PP failed to deliver the MCC’s measly nut of over $200,000!? (Don’t even get me started on the profit sharing! )

Frankly, I am insulted to have the MCC beggin poor…”pleez donate”…”save” the MCC….AFTER decades of goodwill and pure effort developing what is now a “world class” reggae event it is insulting and criminal to be in this position. LIke what????.. you can’t turn a profit on a 2million show???? and yet PP still claims to be the best ‘people’ for the job? Spare me!!!

Even with the likes of teva, and a miriad of other ‘sponsors’ and ‘donations’ AND the way huge 85ft beer booth- we still couldn’t turn a profit????? New site or not…something smells around here…..

And PAUL BASSIS – PB??? (I’m sorry if I digress…I am just so annoyed…..) Who claims to “not be a part of PP or ROR” …still is rumored to have earned in excess of $20,000 on ‘sponsors’? Disgusting!!

I can only hope it is with DOUG GREEN that they are negotiating. He saved ROR years ago when we first started the intensive dance with the ‘agencies’….CHP, County, Fish and Game etc. He knows what he’s doing.

HAD CAROL BRUNO remained idealistic, and held the reins to the MCC AND ROR -Even at reduced wages, her rewards would now be MUCH greater than anything she has garnered through cunning or plain drunkenness…power, indeed, is intoxicating…It is time for a intervention……

Really, aren’t the rewards of respect, honor and companionship far greater than any financial gain, or illusions of ‘power’ or ‘connection’ ??? Isn’t the real connection within the heart of each of us??? For I believe, that within our good intentions and INTEGRITY lies all the wealth we truly desire and need.

The greed that led CAROL and PB …and jeanie, and patty, and susie, and little (thanks to thou$ands of $$ worth of lipo and silicone, financed no doubt through the secret BS wristband fund) HEATHER LAKE …..to leave the MCC – is rewarding us all now with sorrow, confusion and division.

….what else can be said? I shed a tear – for the little reggae show that tore up our family…..and for the little family (clique) that tore up our reggae show…..

Easy does it. We all know that some tensions have built up. Carol’s no angel, but few people are. The Reggae festival is important in a number of ways. Even though we can post anonymously, we will all benefit if we can keep the comments constructive. If you are unhappy about how PP has run the event in the past, now is the time to publicly support the Mateel’s efforts to carry the event into the future.

I myself and many others hope and pray ROTR remains in the hands of locals and doesn’t fly south or into the hands of corporations or multi-media monopolies. There are many experienced and capable production companies right here on the north coast more than willing to continue with the communities dream.

This board has been great therapy for myself. I feel caught in a cross fire with friends on one side and people I don’t know and have nothing against on the other. I’m taking in all information and the friends who I have supported blindly for years I cannot support any longer with blinders on. They are however still my friends. But I cannot dispute facts when they come to me in black and white. I cannot ask the necessary questions of my friends and if they knew I had these questions to ask they would no longer be my friends. I would be forever banished from my circle of friends. So to be able to post my questions and feelings as anonymous lets me speak the unspeakable and still keep my friends. I wish there had been full transparency. Then this never would have come to pass. I hope that in the future there is no “us and them” only “us.” UNITY for Reggae on the River 2007. RESPECT to my friends who choose to longer be a part of ROTR future. PEACE to Carol Burno and family.

RE: ROTR MESSAGE BOARD:Primo, the webmaster, was doing a software upgrade. Nothing sinister about that; it happens periodically. There is currently an announcement on the message board regarding the downtime.

RE: SOME COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG:I am okay with the fact that some of you have a need to ask questions, and make comments anonymously. *However*, if you must say truly nasty things about people, whether it be about their physical appearance, slanderous allegations about them stealing money, or any outrageous claims about folks you don’t know, and situations you don’t understand, kindly either make them privately with your own small-minded circle of friends, or have the stones to sign your name in this public forum. Have some respect for Eric’s blog and his readers.-Sally

I can not agree with you more Sally!However I do understand the need of some people to express their opinions anonymously. The petty personal attacks and unsubstantiaed accusations of wrongdoing are tasteless and serve no positive purpose.My guess is that the posters would never say those things to the people involved to their faces.They have no stones. And they would not wish to witness the pain that must surely be caused by the words they hide behind.

There have been several blog references on this and the preceding ROTR thread to “transparency” and full disclosure. Those are wonderful concepts, but this is SoHum and we are all human. Further discussion and clarification is needed.

Does this sought after grail of “transparency” mean full disclosure of the finances of ROTR by whomever is producing it to the Mateel BoD only?Will it include full public disclosure as well?Will it be required of all the nonprofits, who’s needs, we are constantly told, are the reason for ROTR’s growth over the past decade but who never disclose much of anything after the fact?Does it include disclosure of what several blog entries here have alluded to and an issue raised by myself and other members of the Piercy community before – wristband proliferation?

When I first brought this wristband issue up publically in April ’05, it was met with a double talk explaination from PB and claims of contract confidentiality by MCC ED Stapp. Are you paying attention Taunya?How interesting to NOW see that others find this issue equally disturbing. Where were your voices before?

My innate east coast skepticism kicks in here and personally, though some of the players may change, I doubt that much else will.